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A Lament for Tu-Whare
by TAOHO
That star that has leaped above the horizon,
Seemingly you have Tawhaki within your breast.
Your short journeys are no more, alas,
Tidings now only of your return and departure,
Depart then in the dawn, the dawn of 'Tariki.
The sun rose on high,
And it shone upon your skin.
Bear him off now
Whilst the winds of Niwa are at rest
Gone with the dawn, are the messengers,
Kama and Okioki.
When lightning flashed in the heavens
'Twas Te Kura-potae who became my shield in war,
Up there on the highest peak.
In the council you oft sat
With Matohi and the others.
Here there are weapons still with your elders,
With Muru-paenga, he who will fasten the canoe;
Or, in flowing speech, will deliver plans of war.
Like unto a god heaven sent,
You did make a landing in Taranaki;
The landing did resound afar,
For it was a richly-laden canoe of your children.
Lost now is Tau-mua, alas,
Passed away on the ocean beaches of the west.
Haul now this my canoe ashore,
To procure the weapon of Tu, Tangi-mamao,
From the house of war dedicated by your ancestors.
The litter befitting you is Papa-tu-ki-te-rangi,
Left up there on Hika-wera,
You might then be laid on these blood-soaked sands.
Let go now the anchor of Mairu,
From the canoe of Whakatau, ah me.
Your spirit will exclaim, "Ah, I am about to land!"
Tu-whare, alas, is absent from the assembly.
Behold this is your war-club, Dark-cloud;
Fallen in the house is your dawn resounding gun,
A form of greeting which oft was heard,
O'er the widespread land; and oft heard
By the hundreds of mankind, ah me.
Let the clouds that gather be named Te Rangi-taumai,
They gather together afar off above Maunga-nui,
O Tohe! crying bitterly now listen to me,
You are to be war-litter for your father,
Who now sleeps beneath the winds that blow, ah me.
This Taoho was a high chief of Te Roroa, he was also a warrior and a seer, and his home was in the locality of (now) Dargaville, and Kaihu; and his descendants still live there. A long account of him is given in the book Percy Smith. "Wars of the Northern against the Southern Tribes," and a recent book "The Musket Wars". Tu-whare was a son of his of whom mention is made in his lament. That was a man who was engaged in the fighting in Taranaki, and beyond on to the head of the fish (southern end of North Island), as a participant with Te Rauparaha, Muru-paenga and Tau-kawau. He became a casualty in the Whanga-nui district in the year 1820. He was wounded and was transported on a litter to Taranaki, where he died at Kete-marae; he is buried at Manu-korihi.
Muru-paenga was one of the principal chiefs, and he was also a recruiter of war-parties. In that book by Percy-Smith is a long account of him. He defeated the Nga Puhi in the battle of Te Kai-a-te-Karoro (Food of the Gulls), Moremonui, in the year 1807. That defeat was avenged in the year 1826 by Hongi Hika, at Te Ika-a-Ranganui.
